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WHERE WE STAND
Xt's time for an about face. We can all feel it—America ia falling apart. Even though there ia no catchy word or phrase to bum lt
all up, there is something drastically wrong with America. The Military is involved in a war now in entire Southeast Asia, and oannot
get Itself out. Racial attitudes, perpetuated and magnified by rotting institutions in civilian society and the military, obscure
people's real interests. The cities are tied up in insoluble crises,
prices are soaring, production must be out back, unemployment ia
spiralling upwards. In the most productive society man has ever
known, the >asic human needs of housing, sduoation, medical care,
iand public safety cannot be solved. The more people Justly demand,
the more the system breaks down.
Angry questions are being tossed at Washington, but there are no
answers f rthcoming. Because the men who sit in Washington and the
men who give them power, the executives of America's giant corporations, cannot give the answers required. Government rules in the
interests of corporate profit—not in the interests of the people,
the working men and women, black and white, who produce the wealth
of society. That's the inner logic of a system whioh produces for
profit and not for use. Tor the men in power the working people are
either a labor source or consumers, not members of a society with
human needs. Sometimes workers have recognized this and fought book
in an organized way—together—and they have achieved small gains.
Higher wages for some, an inadequate Social Security, a little Medicare. But the working people have always stopped fighting too
soon—either their leaders made compromises or their resources ran
out.
The struggle of working people is important to EMs because they
are the working class in uniform. And when things get tough, as
they're going to be, the EM is the unemployed worker—in unlfo»
because there are no Jobs around for him on the outside. The guy
jsociety forgot about, the guy who decidss to stay in the military
because there's no place for him on the outside, he becomes the lifer.
But most EMs will be returning to the working force on the outside. They'll be returning to Jobs that are dwindling in number, to
paychecks that won't stretch, to debts, bills, and mortgagss up to
their necks. They'll begin to struggle, beoause they'll have to, to
demand better wages, to demand Job security, decent housing, education for their children. They'll begin to demand that priority be
placed on planning for human needs, rather than on profits for big
corporations that don't produce what people need anyway.
That's where the Army comes in, because the rulers aren't going
to give up without a fight. They'll have to be certain of that army's
loyalty, which means that they'll have to be certain that the new
military runs smoothly. First and foremost, they'll skip by young
men who are likely to balk at discipline and infringement on their
personal freedoms. Namely, the people who have had the opportunity
to enjoy personal freedoms before they reached the Army. People
who are used to the -privileged leisure of college will not be drafted anymore. The Army will consist of only those.who have never en-
Jo.ved the benefits of leisure because they were too busy scraping
together some means of survival. Some working class youth, youth
from rural America, and "ghetto youth, unable to find Jobs, will enlist, yet they can't really be called "volunteers". They didn't
"volunteer", when they were born, to reach the age of eighteen with
only the military life ahead of them.
The draft became a dangerous inheritance from poet-war expansion.
The military is being called out more and more visibly as the system's tool of repression. GIs are put to work in Vietnam, for example.
destroying a country to protect the system's business interesta. At
home, when people challenge the very roots of the problem, the
troops are called out—In the ghetto, for Instance, like the 101st
Abn in Detroit. Troops are also used agalnat workers, to break
strikes. It happened in 1941 agalnat aviation workers in California,
In 194» against meatpackera In Minnesota, and in 1970 agalnat postal
workers in Hew York. And it will happen again. Either abroad to keep
other countries safe for American business when the people start
shwoing signs of being fed up, or at home when things start getting
tough for the workers. Alrsady the administration la busy planning
anti-strike legislation, wage contrôla; when ths economy runs into
■nags, it's alwaya ths workers who get hit first.
It's In this context that we have to understand the military's
new liberalization. The theory Is that the new army will function
smoothly because lt will be made of volunteers, and part and parcel
with the command's need to make the amy all-volunteer Is a streamlining within the ranks. For example, the brass have lately been
much concerned with the »race problem" in the military. To deal with
this problem, they have set up and directed race relations boards.
But they won't work. They won't work because "personal conflicts"
arise when people feel powerless and frustrated beoause they are kept
In ignorance of the real reaeons for an intolerable situation« not
knowing these reaaons, they have nothing to talk about. But when
people discover these common interests and bsgln to take collective
action, these conflicts tend to dissolve. And the interests ,of the
EM—black and white—lie In the struggle of the working people
against those business Interests that the army is there to protect.
But let ue be clean We're 100* for 01 rights; but any gain of
rights we get we coneider long overdue. These are partial victories,
and we shouldn't be deoelved into thinking that the struggle ia won.
But when strugglss stop at rights, laws can bs passed, and rights reasserted, but the underlying reality remains unchanged.
WE BELIEVE THAT THE EM—BLA?K AND WHITE—AHB THE WORKERS IH THE FACTORIES WILL SOLVE THEIR OWH PROBLEMS OHCE THEY REALIZE WHERE THESE
PROBLEMS LIE.
THE PROBLEMS OF AMERICA CANHOT BE SOLVED UNTIL THE PRODUCTIVE FORCES
OF SOCIETY ARE TAKEN OUT OF THE HAHDS OF THE RULIHG FEW AND PUT IHTO
THE HANDS OP THE WORKIHG PEOPLE.
AHD WE BELIEVE THAT THE REAL PROBLEM OF THE ARMY DOES NOT LIE WITH
RACISM, OR WITH HARASSMENT, OR WITH THIS OR THAT INJUSTICE, BUT WITH
THE FAST THAT IT IS AH ORGAHIZATIOH WHICH IS BEIHG USED AGAIHST THE
INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE FORCED TO BE PART OF IT.
10 ARMED FORCE CAN FUNCTIOH SMOOTHLY IF IT IS HOT USED TO PROTECT THE
REAL INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE! NOW THE MILITARY HELPS TO MAINTAIH, BOTH
AT HOME AHD ABROAD, COHDITIOHS THAT ARE IHTOLERABLE TO THE MAHY IH
THE IHTERESTS OF A RULIHG FEW. OHLY THE COLLECTIVE MIGHT OF THE AMERX
ICAN WORKING PEOPLE, BLACK AND WHITE, IN UNIFORM AHD OUT, CAN ENSURE
THAT THE MILITARY IS WITHDRAWN PROM EVERY COUNTRY 18 THE WORLD. ITS
PRESENT COMMAND DISBANDED, AND ITS ARMS PLACED IN THE SERVICE OF THE
UNITED WORKIHG PEOPLE TO WREST CONTROL OF SOCIETY FROM ITS PRESEHT
RULERS.
This will be a long and difficult struggle. An about faca— to
understand clearly what we muet do and prepare for it. An about
face away from reliance on euperficlal promises from the top down
that obscure the main lseuea. To Tcnow where the real struggle liée—
that it does not stop in the military but will continue at home.
To give that struggle, in the military and at home, an independent
form and a determined leadership—that ia the next step.
THE NEXT STEP
To beglni we must defend \he Interesta of all GIs against the
military command and the lntereata it représenta.
At the aaae time, we Intend to help In the process of organ-
lalng —ia who are ready to begin the aerlous work of building
unity within the military and to prepare for the continuing
struggle back In the world.
Here's what you can doi
REPORTIHG—Report on local conditions, open Infringement or
01 rignte, petty haraaaaent,.blatant forme of raclât practice
oy the military command, and the things going on around you.
Many things might seem trivial at first glance but even eo,
a key to GI strength ie for Ola everywhere to know what la
going on on all baaes. If something is going on around you
that's rotten and ehould be exposed, let us know. Your r_ae
will not be used. Be a regular reporter. Write a lettar to
the editor, at the addreaa below.
DISTRIBUTIOH— If you can give out a few coplea, or a lot, and
most Important of all, if you're serious and know how to
cover your ass, write and aay how many.
0R0AMZAT10H—Take the paper, ait down with other Ola In your
barracka and dlaouea what'a In it. Take the Initiative to
lead converaatlon onto the problems that really concern uo
all. lot us know what questions or issues come up. loop yoar
eyee open for anyone who geta undue haraeement and tax« tha
initiative to get support for him. Let ua know Immediately.
MONEY Because we can't expect the military to approvo of "Tha
Hext Step..." we can't sell our paper openly. So lta continuation is largely dependent on you. If we ara to get news to
GIs, we .must be assured of enough funda to continue. Let aa
know your suggestions for Improvement of the paper. Give
ue advice. Every letter will ba answered.
There's a lot GIs can do if they only know and are assured of their
rights, and have others to back thea up.
Send all letters toi
The Next Step...
*/o W. Jakob
Rohrbachstr. 18
6 Ff m
NO JOBS (CONT'D)
markets" and about "controlled" inflation they're talking in language that big
business understands. It's the corporations that accept unemployment and can
glibly call it substantial, who accept inflation--until it cuts into profits. Working people dont accept any of these because they're the ones who have to live
with the jacked-up prices.
It's not the working people in America who decide whether or not there is going
to be full employment (real full employment, that is). When it comes to why GIs
cant find jobs when they leave the military, or why 700 people were so anxious
to become gas meter-readers, the planners and politicians are silent. To them
these are just facts to talk about and little more. There's good reason for this: they
see their task as making sure that'business is good, " and that means trying to keep
profits high for the industrial and financial institutions that run the country. But in
the American economy, where everything is controlled by a few giant companies,
when one of them runs into trouble it sends the whole system into chaos. When that
happens the men in Washington are more interested in bailing out the corporations
and their directors and owners, than in trying to figure out what has to be done to
make the economy rational and useful to everybody.
Oregon
1
You may havs gotten this paper from a German you didn't know:
lt may have been slipped under your door; or you may have found
lt simply lying somewhere. This is called "covering one's aaa".
We're damned sure the brass is not going to be too pleased by
"The Next Step...", and Judging from military policies in ths
past on ;;uch things, we must take measures and precautions to
avoid their unnecessary meddling. We have work to do, and we
can't be bothered with their silly nonsense. Their interests are
not our interests; if they insist on setting up obstacles, which
of course they will, we will simply find ways to get around them.
As, in fact, GIs are learning to dc all over.
Oregon's a case in point. At the beginning of the year the large aircraft industries
laid off thousands of workers and as a result most every other industry in the state
was affected. Well, to try and ease inflation the big banks and the government policy makers thought it would be a good idea to raise the interest rates to keep people
from spending. But then the people of Oregon--mostly working people—couldn't
afford to mortgage new homes. With no orders for new homes there wasn't much call
for lumber. When you count the aviation workers, lumbermen and all other workers
affected by the layoffs, there s now a situation where one out of every ten workers in
Oregon don't have jobs.
The trouble in America is that the corporation heads and the policy makers think
that what's good for business is good for the country. Nonsense! What's good for business is good for business, period- -and even that's not always true, which is why we're
in the middle of a whopping recession right now. Most people in this country dont
own factories, aren't politicians and don't sit behind a desk playing around with unemployment statistics. They happen to work for a living, or they're now in uniform
to protect the privileges of the ruling few. What's good for the country has got to be
good for them, and not the few at the top, and when that happens things aren't
going to be very "good for business" at all.

Heidelberg, West Germany; Frankfurt, West Germany; West Berlin, West Germany

Publisher

S.C.; W. Jakob; P. Reidenbach

Publication date

1970-1971

Language

English

Country

West Germany

Digital Format

XML

Publisher-Electronic

Wisconsin Historical Society

Publication Date-Electronic

2016

Rights

Copyright belongs to the individuals who created them or the organizations for which they worked. We share them here strictly for non-profit educational purposes. If you believe that you possess copyright to material included here, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Under the fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright law, teachers and students are free to reproduce any document for nonprofit classroom use. Commercial use of copyright-protected material is generally prohibited.

Copyright belongs to the individuals who created them or the organizations for which they worked. We share them here strictly for non-profit educational purposes. If you believe that you possess copyright to material included here, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Under the fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright law, teachers and students are free to reproduce any document for nonprofit classroom use. Commercial use of copyright-protected material is generally prohibited.

WHERE WE STAND
Xt's time for an about face. We can all feel it—America ia falling apart. Even though there ia no catchy word or phrase to bum lt
all up, there is something drastically wrong with America. The Military is involved in a war now in entire Southeast Asia, and oannot
get Itself out. Racial attitudes, perpetuated and magnified by rotting institutions in civilian society and the military, obscure
people's real interests. The cities are tied up in insoluble crises,
prices are soaring, production must be out back, unemployment ia
spiralling upwards. In the most productive society man has ever
known, the >asic human needs of housing, sduoation, medical care,
iand public safety cannot be solved. The more people Justly demand,
the more the system breaks down.
Angry questions are being tossed at Washington, but there are no
answers f rthcoming. Because the men who sit in Washington and the
men who give them power, the executives of America's giant corporations, cannot give the answers required. Government rules in the
interests of corporate profit—not in the interests of the people,
the working men and women, black and white, who produce the wealth
of society. That's the inner logic of a system whioh produces for
profit and not for use. Tor the men in power the working people are
either a labor source or consumers, not members of a society with
human needs. Sometimes workers have recognized this and fought book
in an organized way—together—and they have achieved small gains.
Higher wages for some, an inadequate Social Security, a little Medicare. But the working people have always stopped fighting too
soon—either their leaders made compromises or their resources ran
out.
The struggle of working people is important to EMs because they
are the working class in uniform. And when things get tough, as
they're going to be, the EM is the unemployed worker—in unlfo»
because there are no Jobs around for him on the outside. The guy
jsociety forgot about, the guy who decidss to stay in the military
because there's no place for him on the outside, he becomes the lifer.
But most EMs will be returning to the working force on the outside. They'll be returning to Jobs that are dwindling in number, to
paychecks that won't stretch, to debts, bills, and mortgagss up to
their necks. They'll begin to struggle, beoause they'll have to, to
demand better wages, to demand Job security, decent housing, education for their children. They'll begin to demand that priority be
placed on planning for human needs, rather than on profits for big
corporations that don't produce what people need anyway.
That's where the Army comes in, because the rulers aren't going
to give up without a fight. They'll have to be certain of that army's
loyalty, which means that they'll have to be certain that the new
military runs smoothly. First and foremost, they'll skip by young
men who are likely to balk at discipline and infringement on their
personal freedoms. Namely, the people who have had the opportunity
to enjoy personal freedoms before they reached the Army. People
who are used to the -privileged leisure of college will not be drafted anymore. The Army will consist of only those.who have never en-
Jo.ved the benefits of leisure because they were too busy scraping
together some means of survival. Some working class youth, youth
from rural America, and "ghetto youth, unable to find Jobs, will enlist, yet they can't really be called "volunteers". They didn't
"volunteer", when they were born, to reach the age of eighteen with
only the military life ahead of them.
The draft became a dangerous inheritance from poet-war expansion.
The military is being called out more and more visibly as the system's tool of repression. GIs are put to work in Vietnam, for example.
destroying a country to protect the system's business interesta. At
home, when people challenge the very roots of the problem, the
troops are called out—In the ghetto, for Instance, like the 101st
Abn in Detroit. Troops are also used agalnat workers, to break
strikes. It happened in 1941 agalnat aviation workers in California,
In 194» against meatpackera In Minnesota, and in 1970 agalnat postal
workers in Hew York. And it will happen again. Either abroad to keep
other countries safe for American business when the people start
shwoing signs of being fed up, or at home when things start getting
tough for the workers. Alrsady the administration la busy planning
anti-strike legislation, wage contrôla; when ths economy runs into
■nags, it's alwaya ths workers who get hit first.
It's In this context that we have to understand the military's
new liberalization. The theory Is that the new army will function
smoothly because lt will be made of volunteers, and part and parcel
with the command's need to make the amy all-volunteer Is a streamlining within the ranks. For example, the brass have lately been
much concerned with the »race problem" in the military. To deal with
this problem, they have set up and directed race relations boards.
But they won't work. They won't work because "personal conflicts"
arise when people feel powerless and frustrated beoause they are kept
In ignorance of the real reaeons for an intolerable situation« not
knowing these reaaons, they have nothing to talk about. But when
people discover these common interests and bsgln to take collective
action, these conflicts tend to dissolve. And the interests ,of the
EM—black and white—lie In the struggle of the working people
against those business Interests that the army is there to protect.
But let ue be clean We're 100* for 01 rights; but any gain of
rights we get we coneider long overdue. These are partial victories,
and we shouldn't be deoelved into thinking that the struggle ia won.
But when strugglss stop at rights, laws can bs passed, and rights reasserted, but the underlying reality remains unchanged.
WE BELIEVE THAT THE EM—BLA?K AND WHITE—AHB THE WORKERS IH THE FACTORIES WILL SOLVE THEIR OWH PROBLEMS OHCE THEY REALIZE WHERE THESE
PROBLEMS LIE.
THE PROBLEMS OF AMERICA CANHOT BE SOLVED UNTIL THE PRODUCTIVE FORCES
OF SOCIETY ARE TAKEN OUT OF THE HAHDS OF THE RULIHG FEW AND PUT IHTO
THE HANDS OP THE WORKIHG PEOPLE.
AHD WE BELIEVE THAT THE REAL PROBLEM OF THE ARMY DOES NOT LIE WITH
RACISM, OR WITH HARASSMENT, OR WITH THIS OR THAT INJUSTICE, BUT WITH
THE FAST THAT IT IS AH ORGAHIZATIOH WHICH IS BEIHG USED AGAIHST THE
INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE FORCED TO BE PART OF IT.
10 ARMED FORCE CAN FUNCTIOH SMOOTHLY IF IT IS HOT USED TO PROTECT THE
REAL INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE! NOW THE MILITARY HELPS TO MAINTAIH, BOTH
AT HOME AHD ABROAD, COHDITIOHS THAT ARE IHTOLERABLE TO THE MAHY IH
THE IHTERESTS OF A RULIHG FEW. OHLY THE COLLECTIVE MIGHT OF THE AMERX
ICAN WORKING PEOPLE, BLACK AND WHITE, IN UNIFORM AHD OUT, CAN ENSURE
THAT THE MILITARY IS WITHDRAWN PROM EVERY COUNTRY 18 THE WORLD. ITS
PRESENT COMMAND DISBANDED, AND ITS ARMS PLACED IN THE SERVICE OF THE
UNITED WORKIHG PEOPLE TO WREST CONTROL OF SOCIETY FROM ITS PRESEHT
RULERS.
This will be a long and difficult struggle. An about faca— to
understand clearly what we muet do and prepare for it. An about
face away from reliance on euperficlal promises from the top down
that obscure the main lseuea. To Tcnow where the real struggle liée—
that it does not stop in the military but will continue at home.
To give that struggle, in the military and at home, an independent
form and a determined leadership—that ia the next step.
THE NEXT STEP
To beglni we must defend \he Interesta of all GIs against the
military command and the lntereata it représenta.
At the aaae time, we Intend to help In the process of organ-
lalng —ia who are ready to begin the aerlous work of building
unity within the military and to prepare for the continuing
struggle back In the world.
Here's what you can doi
REPORTIHG—Report on local conditions, open Infringement or
01 rignte, petty haraaaaent,.blatant forme of raclât practice
oy the military command, and the things going on around you.
Many things might seem trivial at first glance but even eo,
a key to GI strength ie for Ola everywhere to know what la
going on on all baaes. If something is going on around you
that's rotten and ehould be exposed, let us know. Your r_ae
will not be used. Be a regular reporter. Write a lettar to
the editor, at the addreaa below.
DISTRIBUTIOH— If you can give out a few coplea, or a lot, and
most Important of all, if you're serious and know how to
cover your ass, write and aay how many.
0R0AMZAT10H—Take the paper, ait down with other Ola In your
barracka and dlaouea what'a In it. Take the Initiative to
lead converaatlon onto the problems that really concern uo
all. lot us know what questions or issues come up. loop yoar
eyee open for anyone who geta undue haraeement and tax« tha
initiative to get support for him. Let ua know Immediately.
MONEY Because we can't expect the military to approvo of "Tha
Hext Step..." we can't sell our paper openly. So lta continuation is largely dependent on you. If we ara to get news to
GIs, we .must be assured of enough funda to continue. Let aa
know your suggestions for Improvement of the paper. Give
ue advice. Every letter will ba answered.
There's a lot GIs can do if they only know and are assured of their
rights, and have others to back thea up.
Send all letters toi
The Next Step...
*/o W. Jakob
Rohrbachstr. 18
6 Ff m
NO JOBS (CONT'D)
markets" and about "controlled" inflation they're talking in language that big
business understands. It's the corporations that accept unemployment and can
glibly call it substantial, who accept inflation--until it cuts into profits. Working people dont accept any of these because they're the ones who have to live
with the jacked-up prices.
It's not the working people in America who decide whether or not there is going
to be full employment (real full employment, that is). When it comes to why GIs
cant find jobs when they leave the military, or why 700 people were so anxious
to become gas meter-readers, the planners and politicians are silent. To them
these are just facts to talk about and little more. There's good reason for this: they
see their task as making sure that'business is good, " and that means trying to keep
profits high for the industrial and financial institutions that run the country. But in
the American economy, where everything is controlled by a few giant companies,
when one of them runs into trouble it sends the whole system into chaos. When that
happens the men in Washington are more interested in bailing out the corporations
and their directors and owners, than in trying to figure out what has to be done to
make the economy rational and useful to everybody.
Oregon
1
You may havs gotten this paper from a German you didn't know:
lt may have been slipped under your door; or you may have found
lt simply lying somewhere. This is called "covering one's aaa".
We're damned sure the brass is not going to be too pleased by
"The Next Step...", and Judging from military policies in ths
past on ;;uch things, we must take measures and precautions to
avoid their unnecessary meddling. We have work to do, and we
can't be bothered with their silly nonsense. Their interests are
not our interests; if they insist on setting up obstacles, which
of course they will, we will simply find ways to get around them.
As, in fact, GIs are learning to dc all over.
Oregon's a case in point. At the beginning of the year the large aircraft industries
laid off thousands of workers and as a result most every other industry in the state
was affected. Well, to try and ease inflation the big banks and the government policy makers thought it would be a good idea to raise the interest rates to keep people
from spending. But then the people of Oregon--mostly working people—couldn't
afford to mortgage new homes. With no orders for new homes there wasn't much call
for lumber. When you count the aviation workers, lumbermen and all other workers
affected by the layoffs, there s now a situation where one out of every ten workers in
Oregon don't have jobs.
The trouble in America is that the corporation heads and the policy makers think
that what's good for business is good for the country. Nonsense! What's good for business is good for business, period- -and even that's not always true, which is why we're
in the middle of a whopping recession right now. Most people in this country dont
own factories, aren't politicians and don't sit behind a desk playing around with unemployment statistics. They happen to work for a living, or they're now in uniform
to protect the privileges of the ruling few. What's good for the country has got to be
good for them, and not the few at the top, and when that happens things aren't
going to be very "good for business" at all.